The Ninja CREAMi Step For Perfectly Creamy Results That You Might Be Skipping

Homemade ice cream is a culinary feat that even seasoned cooks find daunting. However, the Ninja CREAMi makes preparing the treat easy — and even sometimes, healthy. With recipes for making frozen desserts with bases of milk, protein shakes, yogurt, or fruit, a CREAMi can offer frosty euphoria with minimal ice cream-making know-how. It functions similarly to a high-speed blender with an ice cream base that's been frozen for at least 24 hours in the appliance's bowl (about a day before mixing). It can be used to make a variety of refreshing desserts from frozen yogurt to sorbet to milkshakes. For perfectly creamy results using your CREAMi, however, there's a simple step you might be skipping: using the "re-spin" function.

Located at the bottom of the settings panel on the appliance, the re-spin button is a useful function in itself that many people have questions on how to use. Overall, the re-spin function is meant to ensure a creamy dessert, especially when it just needs a little extra mixing — not a whole extra spin in the ice cream blending machine. If you've ever tried out a CREAMi with high hopes, only to find your ice cream icy or grainy, all you have to do is add a little more liquid to the mix and press re-spin. What you'll get is a quick extra sheer on the ice cream base that renders it creamy and smooth.

Failing to use the re-spin button is among the biggest mistakes people make when using a Ninja CREAMi. To get a smooth dessert, it might take a little trial and error. You may find that, for some recipes, the texture is still a little soft after running through an initial cycle for "ice cream," "lite ice cream," "gelato," or other settings (depending on the model). Pressing re-spin gives the frozen mixture the extra little smooth push it needs. If it's hard or crumbly, remember that a little extra milk or liquid goes a long way. Re-spin once or twice until a desired, spoonable creaminess is reached. If you find yourself going through a few re-spin cycles with the same recipe, you can also try the "lite ice cream" button for extra mixing. The "mix-in" button is also for short spurts of mixing, but it's technically to be used for folding in toppings, such as cookies and chocolate chips.

If the frozen dessert's texture is a little hard or grainy, try re-spin. This is especially true with lower fat or low sugar frozen liquids, like those made from almond milk, for instance. In traditional ice cream, fat and sugar are essential to achieving a creamy texture. While many Ninja CREAMi recipes call for adding pudding mix for creaminess, you don't necessarily have to rely on these ingredients. However, you need to know how to operate the appliance.